First off, apologies to AK, he may be an idiot, but he gives good advice
Secondly, we won! As if it were ever in doubt. I also got to hit lots of things, finally, which was nice, too
Thirdly, here's what happened:
0 850 Pre-flight, with plenty to do this time. Set prefs. Start looking for strategic Temple rushes that will take in coast tiles. Rush Temples first. Spend all 2000-odd rushing culcha. Move some troops into place. The front is covered. I'll declare next turn.
IT: No flips, no enemy movement to report. WW is on the rise, a bunch of cities are suddenly unhappy.
1 860 Hire a bunch of specialists in those cities - none of them are crucial, not worth a rise in Lux. Abu may not have Saltpeter, but he does have Cavs. So my betting is he'll have Muskets further in. WW is over 50%, even in the core. Rome is 50/50 for rioting. Lux may need to go up in the next few turns. Dial up Abu and declare. Here we go! Dial up Cathy and get peace, for Navigation and gold. So we don't really need the tech... but what the heck. Should reduce WW, especially in those ex-Russian cities. Indeed, WW down to ~33%. Raze Muscat. Trapezus re-taken. Tzin captured.
IT: Babylon declare on us! Arabs re-take Tzin. Babylon raze an undefended city they were stood next to.
2 870 Another MGL. In a tight spot. Tzin re-taken, now size 1, better. Bagdhad (MoM) captured. Okay Hammi do your worst
.
IT: The only action sees an Arab Cav promote one of our own by Medina.
3 880 Tlalman captured. Some Bab units killed - does Hammi have Horses? I see no fast units. Get this - accidentally attack with the 2/5 Elite Cav at Medina, vs. a full-health Pike, it wins, and of course, generates a Leader
! Medina (Great Wall) captured. New Army formed, naturellement.
IT: Babs kills some Cavs at the border, and generate a MGL of their own! I wonder what they'll do with it.... Arabs kill a Cav by Mecca. Serious Palace extension time!
4 890 No cities captured, a couple planted. Not sure what the AI threshold for attacking Armies is
7 or 8hps, Crusaders vs. 4xCav? They might. Decide not to find out.
IT: A heroic Cav in Basra fends off 2 Arab Cavs, one whilst entirely redlined, and promotes to Elite
Basra responds by flipping, and I don't even get to re-name the unit! The Temples from 850AD all expand. Babs are building Newton's.
5 900 20 tiles to win! Re-take Basra to add 9 of them. Mecca makes a fine addition to the collection, too. A quick-and-dirty settler nets 4 coast tiles, for 22. All we need now are no flips
. Khurasan - 9 more. Well into credit. There's a Temple expansion next turn, too.
IT: The Arabs fail to re-take Mecca. The Babs kill a Cav. The Celts land some units
No flips, and........
900AD save attached below - press space to get the message, high score, etc.
Thank you, gentlemen, I shall see some of you at Demi-God (
?)
Neil.
Nice job guys!
after forgeting variants. Let's hear your thoughts. 
